Colonie mom in welfare fraud case: ‘I was unaware that I needed to report the children’s bank accounts’

A Colonie woman who allegedly reaped about $95,000 in welfare benefits to support an upscale lifestyle admittedly failed to report more than $50,000 in four of her children’s bank accounts — or the monthly $2,226 she earned off the books, court papers show.

Angela Lopez, 37, argued she did nothing wrong intentionally.

“I was unaware that I needed to report the children’s bank accounts,” Lopez told an Albany County welfare fraud investigator in a statement she signed Oct. 19, 2009. “I didn’t report this income because my husband was not working and I thought I was under the income levels for food stamps and Medicaid.”

Prosecutors allege Lopez bilked approximately $65,000 from the Albany County Department of Social Services after she applied for Medicaid and food stamps without disclosing her full income.

And they say she scammed the Social Security Administration of approximately $29,000 after failing to report income earned and property owned when she applied for Supplemental Security Income benefits.

In a handwritten statement to a federal agent for the Social Security Administration, Lopez noted her economic plight.

“I know we struggle and never have extra (money),” she stated. “It only goes to bills. We were way below income to be eligible for Medicaid … I did not know about any guidelines for SSI. I was informed differently today.”

Lopez, a mother of five, faces 7 1/3 to 20 years in state prison if convicted of welfare fraud, grand larceny and other charges in a 19-count indictment. She previously rejected a plea offer of 2 to 6 years in prison.